


Helping each other

by Miss_BlueBell



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 18:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_BlueBell/pseuds/Miss_BlueBell
Summary: When Caitlin gives Oliver medical attention after he gets injured by the dominators, she finds out that there is more to the green archer than meets the eye.





	Helping each other

**Author's Note:**

> This all takes place during the Invasion crossover, right after the first battle when almost everyone besides Oliver and Barry was brainwashed. Only team Arrow was not kidnapped right after because in this story Oliver was injured.  
> Not that it really matters when the story takes place... it isn't cannon anyways. Enjoy and let me know what you think!  
> Disclaimer - I do not own Arrow or the Flash.

Once again Caitlin opened the window on her computer screen to check if everything was okay with Oliver.

“Anything new?”

Caitlin turned her head and saw Thea standing in the doorframe with a worried expression. Caitlin figured that out of all people Thea was the one who was worrying the most. The man on the medical bed was her brother after all. 

“He lost a lot of blood because of the wound. He probably will have a little bit of a headache when he wakes up and the burn wound will sting for a few days… but he will be fine” Caitlin explained as she redirected her gaze towards the green archer on the medical bed. “Honestly I don’t know how he survived that fall without a few broken bones”

“You and everyone else” Thea replied as she walked forward and placed her hand on Oliver his arm to give it a small squeeze. “Oh, he is so not going to like the fact that he passed out on the battlefield”

Caitlin nodded in agreement. She didn't know Oliver that well but she could understand why it would hurt his pride if he knew that he was the only one who got knocked out. Though to be honest, he had been going up against supergirl.

“How is Kara holding up? Does she still feel guilty?” Caitlin asked when the woman of steel entered her mind.

“Yeah… Barry is doing his best to cheer her up… but she feels horrible” Thea replied with a short nod of the head.

Caitlin pressed her lips together and sighed. She looked through the window of her trailer to look at the people gathered in the hall.

Supergirl had used her heat vision on both Barry and Oliver. But while Barry was quick enough to dodge it, Oliver had not been fast enough. Caitlin knew that Oliver had to bless himself lucky that it only ‘scraped’ his arm, but the pain of the burn made Oliver lose his focus and therefore he was hit by someone else in the shoulder.

Caitlin didn't want to think about what would have happened to Oliver if Barry had not broken that mind control thing. Caitlin looked at Oliver once more before she stood up to check if everything was okay.

“What is the next plan?” Caitlin asked, shortly looking over her shoulder “Did we found out what happened to the real president?”

“Honestly, I did not listen very well… I'm too worried about this stupidhead here” Thea replied pointing at her brother.

“Thea I will do everything I can” Caitlin promised.

Thea snorted, but quickly after that her eyes widened. “That wasn’t meant for you.. sorry. It’s just… we have this big team up… and nobody, but you of course, thinks it might be a good idea to bring medical supplies” Thea shook her head and crossed her arms. “I mean, the chances that someone was getting hurt were pretty big…”

“Yeah, why you think I brought a whole trailer full of medical supplies” Caitlin said with a smile as she held up her hands to show the trailer.

“Bless you” Thea replied.

“You’re welcome”

“Can I ask you a question?” Thea asked after a few moments of silence.

Caitlin turned on her chair and frowned. “Sure”

“You told Kara, that you have superpowers but can’t use them…? What is that all about?” Thea asked looking around for a chair to sit down on.

A pang of panic shot through Caitlin her body. If she did not want to talk about something it was her powers, especially after what happened last week. Her thoughts were interrupted by Thea.

“Okay, got it. Don’t want to talk about it.”

Caitlin tilted her head to the side. She was aware that she had a confused expression on her face. She was a bit flabbergasted by the fact that without a word Thea understood that she indeed didn't want to talk about it.

“Believe me, I have major experience with the look ‘I don’t want to talk about it’” Thea replied with a roll of the eye.

“What do you mean?”

Thea pointed at her brother. “It has been over 4 years since my brother came back from that horrible island…and honestly the things I know about what happened to him there, I can count on one hand” Thea held up her hand to make her point before she lowered her hand. “Something would happen and he would mutter something about the island after which everyone in the room received the well-known ‘I don’t want to talk about it and yeah I am fine’ look”

Suddenly Caitlin understood what Thea meant. It was easy to forget that the man on the medical bed had spent five years on an island. These thoughts brought Caitlin back to an hour ago, when she had to undress Oliver to give him medical attention.

While Caitlin thought Oliver was very attractive, when someone is bleeding those kinds of thoughts don’t enter your mind. Without a second thought she had carefully removed his shirt and she was focused on getting to job done. This all changed when her eyes fell on the many scars that covered the man’s body.

“What?” Thea asked, breaking Caitlin her thoughts.

“Nothing… “Caitlin started. “It’s just that I never saw his scars before…”

Caitlin saw understanding wash over Thea her face as she nodded a few times before she spoke up. “Yeah.. no matter how many times I see them… they always leave an impression”

“Is he ashamed of them?”

The words left Caitlin her lips before she knew it and for a moment she wondered if the questions was inappropriate.

“Not ashamed enough to keep himself from sleeping with woman” Thea snorted, but the last part of her answer was more serious. “But I do know that in the beginning he did not want anyone to see his scars”

Before Caitlin could respond a knock was heard and both girls turned their head towards the door. Barry and Kara entered the room.

“How is he?” Barry asked, his eyes already moving towards the computer screen in front of Caitlin that showed Oliver his status. Caitlin shook her head, knowing that Barry would not become any wiser of that info.

“I already told Thea that he is okay. I treated his burn wound and stitched his other wound, honestly the fact that he brought a bag of his own blood helped a lot.”

“My brother likes to have plan a till z” Thea replied as she hovered over her brother and planted a kiss on his forehead. “I think I am going to get some sleep, please promise me you wake me up when something changes?”

“Of course” Caitlin immediately replied. “Try to get some rest. You and everyone else will probably need it tomorrow”

Thea shortly locked eyes with everyone in the room before she left. Thea leaving gave some more space for Kara and Barry.

“I still feel horrible… he is going to hate me even more now” Kara sighed as she sat down on the chair that Thea had been sitting in. She bowed forward and let her face fall into her hands.

“He won’t and he never did hate hate you Kara” Barry replied placing a hand on Kara her shoulder to comfort her “If someone knows the risks of battle, it's Oliver. You couldn’t do anything about it.”

“I hurt him didn’t i?” Kara said with a sigh.

“You were mind controlled. If someone is to blame it is me for not getting him safely away from your heat vision!”

Caitlin watched as Kara opened her mouth to give Barry a reply and looked up and interrupted her.

“Guys if you came here to play the blame game, you can do that elsewhere okay?” Caitlin said. “He will be fine, believe me he had worse”

Caitlin noticed the confused glances of both Kara and Barry, but decided to ignore them. “I will tell you guys if something is up with Oliver. But Barry, I think it's best if you and Kara focus on what to do next”

“You’re right, we just wanted to see him” Barry offered Caitlin a smile before he whispered something to Kara after which the two left.

Caitlin her eyes followed the two as they stepped outside the trailer. Her eyes shifted towards the small window in the trailer which enabled her to look outside. It was late and most of the people had decided to go to bed. Sleeping seemed like such a weird thing to do when you knew aliens were planning their next attack.

A yawn escaped Caitlin her lips. She turned her chair so she faced the desk and placed her arms on it, after which she rested her head on her arms. She figured a few moments of closing her eyes wouldn’t hurt.

The happenings of today flashed before her eyes. Every time she felt herself drift of to sleep, she would open her eyes again. She listened to the sounds of Oliver’s steady breaths as she watched his chest rise and fall.

She turned her head and looked at Oliver his green arrow suit. Some parts of his jacket were torn and had bloodstains on it. Luckily it was nothing that Cisco would not be able to fix in a few minutes.

Caitlin remembered that she had panicked a bit more than usual when they brought an unconscious bleeding Oliver Queen into her trailer. It wasn’t a major operation or something. But still, she had been more nervous than usual because normally she threated Barry his wounds. By the time Barry was brought to her most of his wounds were partly healef. But this time the wound did not heal that quickly and the blood kept flowing.

Caitlin stood up and pulled down the covers that were draped over Oliver his chest.

“They are still good” Caitlin thought as she looked over Oliver his medical bindings again. This time she shortly touched the area around the wound and unconsciously she let her finger roam over his chest a bit more. She stopped at the weird looking tattoo on his left pectoral. Not far from there, there were several scars which she touched too.

When Caitlin became aware what she was doing she withdrew her fingers as if she was touching a hot metal plate. She took a deep breath and pulled the sheet up again. She walked back towards her chair and kept talking to herself in her head.

“That was just me checking him out, checking UP on him… god”

Caitlin shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Again she rested her head on her arms on the desk and closed her eyes for a moment. Only this time her body gave in to the exhaustion and she fell asleep.

….

“Caitlin…”

…. Was someone calling her name?

…..

“Caitlin!”

… What had she been dreaming about…?

“Caitlin… CAITLIN!”

Caitlin her eyes spurted open and she jumped up. She took in the sight before her. The desk was covered in ice around the spots where she had placed her hands. A quick breath escaped her as she wondered if she unconsciously had turned into Killer frost.

“Oh no, no, no”.

She took a few steps backwards as she shook her head, only to become aware that she was not the only one in the room. Two piercing blue eyes were staring at her.

“You’re awake…” Caitlin said in surprise.

She noticed that Oliver looked at her intensively. She could only imagine what he must be thinking right now.

“I guess this is what you meant when Kara mentioned your powers…” Oliver said as his gaze switched between the frozen desk and Caitlin.

Caitlin watched as Oliver got up and moved his feet next to the bed. Oliver groaned as he stood up to make his first step when Caitlin started to speak.

“No, don’t come near me…” Caitlin begged.

Oliver frowned but he listened to her and he stepped back and sat back down on the bed again. His eyes did not leave her and it made Caitlin feel extremely uncomfortable. Her eyes moved towards the desk again and she felt fear rise up in her chest. She was losing control.

“Control of what? Your powers?” Oliver asked.

A second was needed before Caitlin understood that she had spoken her last sentence out loud. 

“Just forget it” Caitlin quickly said “I promised everyone I would tell them if you’d wake up so… yeah”

Caitlin spun around and grabbed the handle of the door to get out. She needed to get out of there, what if she would turn into Killer frost again… she could ruin the whole mission.

“No you’re not.” Oliver said in a stern voice that made her stop in her tracks. The emotion in his voice changed when he continued. “Caitlin even from here I can see you are trembling, just… just sit for a moment”

Caitlin wasn't really sure why she did what Oliver told her to do. But she sat down, her eyes focused on a point right in front of her. A few moments passed before she jumped up again when she remembered that she had a job to do here.

“God I am an idiot, how are you?” Caitlin asked moving towards Oliver to check his stitches.

“A bit sore, but I feel better than I normally do after someone stitched me up”

Caitlin felt relieved that Oliver let the whole scene from a minute ago slip. She wanted to thank him for that but that would only bring it up again. So instead she continued her job at hand.

“Can I look at your burn?” Caitlin asked.

Oliver nodded and turned on the bed so Caitlin had better access to his burn wound. She loosened his bandage and looked closely at the wound. It was messy, but it was healing. She opened a bottle with ointment that would help against the pain of the burns. She placed the salve on the tips of her fingers and then placed them against Oliver his skin. Immediately he sighed in bliss.

“I know, this thing does wonders” Caitlin said.

“N-no, it’s just… your hands are cold and that’s-”

Without a second thought Caitlin pushed Oliver away and she stepped back.

“Hey!” Oliver said as he turned to face Caitlin. “What was that for?”

“Sorry… forget it sorry” Caitlin rambled as she continued patching Oliver up in silence. “I probably should give the others notice that you are awake”

“Again, don’t” Oliver replied before Caitlin could even get up to leave the trailer.

“Oliver, your sister was really worried about you”

“Look, yesterday’s fight probably not only took its toll on me but on the others too. We have no idea what we're going to face today and it’s still early in the morning. They need their rest” Oliver explained calmly as he got back on the bed and closed his eyes.

“How do you know that the fight was yesterday? A-and how do you know its morning?” Caitlin asked, somewhat surprised that Oliver was so well aware of time and date. There wasn’t a clock in here and she figured he had not been outside of the trailer yet.

“Light of the morning is different than the light of the afternoon” Oliver replied quickly “And unless you shaved my beard when I was out, this” he touched his chin. “means only one day passed”

“That’s… actually kind of clever” Caitlin replied with a small laugh.

“Yeah well.. your learn some tricks along the way” Oliver replied as he sat up again.

Caitlin followed his gaze and her eyes landed on the half melted ice on the desk. She figured he was deciding if he should ask her about it or not.

A debate started in Caitlin her head. Should she talk to him or not…Barry always told her how Oliver his advice helped him out… but that was Barry the hero and she was Caitlin… the monster.

When Caitlin looked up she noticed that Oliver was looking at her. She appreciated the fact that he didn't ask her if she wanted to talk about it. He probably knew that she’d rather not. The whole fact that he seemed to understand that, gave her the extra push to contradict that and talk about it.

“As you can see” Caitlin started as she made a gesture with her hand towards the desk. “I have powers” She opened her mouth to continue but no words came out of her mouth. What was she going to tell him? “It scares me… I…”

Caitlin took a deep breath and directed her sight towards her lap. She folded her hands and placed them in her lap as her thoughts drifted off towards the last time she turned into Killer frost.

“I’m afraid that If I told you, you would see me differently” Caitlin finally said as she stood up to grab something to clean the desk.

“Try me” Oliver said as he stood up to make his way towards her. Caitlin heard his footsteps and something inside her told her to keep his distance from him so she did.

“Oliver, my life is turned upside down…I hurt people, like really hurt people, including Barry” Caitlin said between breaths as she shook her head in disapproval of herself.

“Caitlin we all make mistakes” Oliver said as he moved his arm up and pointed outside. “In fact, that's exactly what I told Barry yesterday”

“No, you don’t understand, I didn't hurt anyone… I mean yes I did, but not really me…”

“You did hurt people, but it wasn’t really you” Oliver slowly repeated.

Caitlin sighed and unfolded her hands as she placed them around herself. “It was Killer frost, but she is me.” Caitlin took a deep breath before she continued. “She makes me become someone else… or rather someTHING else”

Silence fell over the room. Caitlin took another deep breath as she went over the words that she had just spoken out loud. She had voiced more of her thoughts in the last few minutes then she had in the last week.

Caitlin dared to look up and expected Oliver to look at her in confusion, but that was not how she found him. His facial expression had not changed at all. It caused Caitlin to be the confused one.

Caitlin hated the fact that she had no clue what was going through the man his head. With Barry or Cisco she had mastered the skill to know what was going on inside of their heads. But Oliver was a complete mystery to her.

“What? You need time to progress the fact that I am not only this sweet little engineer?” Caitlin said hoping it would start up the conversation again because the silence had started to freak her out.

Again her words were answered with silence and it made Caitlin wonder why she had started to open up to the green archer in the first place. Apparently his helpful advice was only for Barry to hear. Caitlin her eyes fell on Oliver his burn wound that she had yet to finish bandaging.

Caitlin stepped forward and continued her work as if none of the conversation had ever taken place. Her actually doing something made the silence less awkward.

“I’m sorry you're going through this”

Caitlin stopped in her tracks when Oliver his words reached her ears. She blinked a few times before she leaned back a bit to look at Oliver his face, but he had yet to look at her. She had not expected the conversation to continue at all, let alone with those words that were even more unexpected.

“Do you think of it as a monster?”

Okay change that, those words were the most unexpected. Caitlin bit her lip and continued patching Oliver up. But his last word kept repeating in her head. There had been many times since she had turned into Killer frost that she had thought of herself as a monster.

“How do you know?” Caitlin asked.

Her question gave the answer to his question. She received a comforting glance from Oliver. She just agreed openly that she thought of herself as a monster. So Caitlin was lost on why Oliver looked at her that way.

“You’re not a monster... she is not a monster. You're just confused, alone and scared”

“I am not alone, I have Cisco and Barry and everyone outside of this trailer” Caitlin protested, though she did not even know why she protested. Confusion, being scared and feeling alone were indeed familiar things.

“Having many people around you doesn’t mean you can’t feel alone. On the contrary, having a lot of friends around you and still feeling alone is even worse.”

“What did this guy do on that island? Get a degree in psychology?” Caitlin asked herself. But his words had a greater effect on her than she cared to admit. Because deep inside she knew he was right.

“You didn’t deny being confused and scared?” Oliver inquired.

Caitlin threw him a desperate glance, but she just knew he wouldn’t back down. She wrapped the last piece of bandage around Oliver and secured it. After that she placed her stuff on the desk and sat next to Oliver.

“I don’t want to admit that I am confused or scared” Caitlin responded, getting the idea that being honest would be in her best interest here as Oliver apparently knew what he was talking about as he had been right so far.

“It’s not a bad thing to admit being confused, alone or scared. It takes a lot to do that” Oliver said as he moved a bit to the side to give Caitlin more space. “You said your life is turned upside down, which I think is a reasonable argument to feel confused and scared”

Caitlin turned her face and noticed that Oliver turned his face at the same time. How did this guy knew so well what was going on inside of her. “How do you know?”

“Caitlin… I somewhat know what you are going through” Oliver replied.

Caitlin shook her head. “No, you don’t know, nobody does… you are a human and I am meta”

“You think you need to be a meta to be a monster? You think you need powers to be a monster?” Oliver asked which got Caitlin by surprise.

“Oliver you didn’t saw what I did… I-”

Before Caitlin could explain what had happened Oliver interrupted her.

“When I first met Joe he thought I was a monster” Oliver said point blank.

Caitlin her breath caught in her throat when she heard Oliver voice those words.

“Though you didn’t say it… you probably had those thoughts too”.

Caitlin didn't know what to respond to that. Her eyes just focused on Oliver who had turned his face away from her again.

“I stopped counting… the many times people called me a monster… and especially stopped counting the times when I thought of myself as a monster”

When he turned his face back towards her again and caught her eyes a breath escaped Caitlin her lips. She just knew by looking into his eyes that he had never said those words out loud before. He probably hated it but Caitlin could read the pain in his eyes… and suddenly she understood that he might have been right when he told her that he knew what she was going through.

“Caitlin, I am not even going to attempt in trying to get a full understanding of what is happening to you. What I CAN do is tell you that, the only times I thought of myself as a monster was when I felt being trapped, scared, confused and alone”.

Oliver suddenly looked away from her towards the window, but quickly turned back towards her. “I am also not going to urge you to talk to people about it because that would make me a big hypocrite”

For the first time since a while Caitlin couldn’t help herself from throwing in a small smile in the conversation.

“I do know that eventually you will fight it, work with it and trade in those feelings of fear and confusion for something else” Oliver continued as he got up and moved towards the other side of the room where he grabbed a bottom up shirt.

“Something…? Like what?” Caitlin asked.

Oliver breathed out before he turned. “Clarity”

If only she could have clarity now.

“You seem like a strong woman Caitlin. Just try to take life one step at a time and know that whatever happens WHATEVER… Barry and the team will have your back”

Caitlin let out a breath and nodded. Yes, even though she doubted that from time to time, the team would be there for her, just like she was there for them.

Caitlin stood up and made her way towards Oliver after which she embraced him carefully as to not hurt him. Slowly she felt his arms wrap around her too and he rested his chin upon her head. Just for a moment she felt relief wash over her. Caitlin closed her eyes and felt that Oliver his right hand started to move on her back as a way of comforting her. She couldn’t deny that having those two strong arms wrapped around her stirred some feelings inside of her. Caitlin heard the door of the trailer open and leaned back to see who it was.

“Am I interrupted something?” Thea asked with some hesitation in her voice

Caitlin noticed as Thea her eyes moved from her towards her brother and back to her again. Caitlin was thinking of a simply reply but Oliver was quicker.

“It’s okay speedy” Oliver replied as he let go of Caitlin.

Caitlin did not know how she felt about Oliver letting go of her. She immediately missed those arms around her, but quickly scolded herself for it.

“I was so worried”

Thea threw her arms around her brother and held him tight. Caitlin smiled at the two siblings. Thea her eyes opened and focused on hers. “You said you would tell me if he woke up!”

Caitlin her eyes widen. She had totally forgotten about that…

“I woke up a few moments ago Thea, Caitlin just redid the bandages after which I thanked her.” Oliver explained. “I actually was on my way to you”

Caitlin could only look in awe as the lie fell so easily from Oliver his lips. If she had not known better, even she would believe it was the truth.

“How is he?” Thea asked again locking eyes with Caitlin.

“I am fine!” Oliver protested as he lowered Thea and gave her a stern look.

“Yeah right” Thea replied with a roll of the eye. “Caitlin?”

Caitlin shook her head in amusements as she watched the siblings interact with each other. Caitlin wondered how everyone did not immediately fall in love with Thea. She was amazing and Caitlin would have loved to have a sister like Thea. But the only way of Thea becoming her sister was if she and Oliver…

“Caitlin?”

“Yes” Caitlin responded her thoughts interrupted. “He is fine, though it would be best if he took it easy today”

“Like that is going to happen” Thea snorted, glaring daggers at her brother.

“Thea, I promise I will try to do my best to take it easy today, okay?” Oliver tried.

Thea narrowed her eyes but eventually sighed in defeat. “Fine, others have started to wake up. Barry told everyone we would have a meeting at 8:00, so we better get ourselves ready. Can he shower?”

“Well..” Caitlin answered knowing the questions was directed at her.

“Thea, why don’t you tell Barry that I will attend the meeting and please let me get ready without a pigheaded sister”.

Immediately after the words left Oliver his mouth he stepped backwards, just in time to dodge Thea her fist.

“Why did I worry about you again?” Thea asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Because you love me” Oliver replied with a grin on his face. He moved forward and planted a kiss on her head. The siblings shortly locked eyes before Thea turned around and left the trailer.

Oliver turned from Caitlin, who collected her stuff to get ready too. Caitlin heard Oliver groan and looked up. Oliver held his green arrow suit between his fingers.

“I already asked Cisco to repair it after the meeting” Caitlin said, when she figured Oliver was not at all pleased with his damaged suit.

“Good, I might need it today” Oliver replied as he placed the suit back in the corner and grabbed his backpack. He turned and locked eyes with her.

“Take it easy okay? Oh and try to talk to Kara please? She feels horrible for what happened”

Caitlin watched as Oliver gave a short nod and made his way to the exit of the trailer. Thea hadn’t closed the door and Caitlin could see some movement from people outside the trailer. Right before Oliver stepped outside he turned back around again and walked towards her.

Caitlin felt his hand, as he placed it on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. He bended forward towards her and whispered.

“Thank you”

It weren’t the words... Because ‘thank you’ is a very common phrase. Nevertheless she felt a pleasurable feeling run up her spine and she let out a short breath, which she knew Oliver must have heard.

He leaned back and looked at her shortly with a confused glance before he smiled. Caitlin could only look at him as she saw Oliver give her a real authentic smile. Oliver let go of her shoulder and turned away from her. Only after she finally got her ability to speak back, she spoke up.

“No really Oliver, thank you”

Oliver glanced over his shoulder and smiled again after which he closed the door of the trailer, leaving Caitlin by herself.

When Oliver had entered the trailer Caitlin was confident it was her who was going to help him. And though she did help him… in the end he helped her more.

“Barry was right… he can be good at giving advice when he wants too” Caitlin thought to herself.

She walked towards the arrow suit and placed her hands on it. Apparently there was more to the man that called himself the green arrow than meets the eye…. Like really strong arms and very firm abs…

Caitlin felt a blush spread over her face and quickly shook off those thoughts. No she refused to accept those feelings. Right now she needed to get ready for the meeting. There were still some aliens that needed their asses kicked.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly thought that the pairing wouldn't get that much attention, but apparantly you all like the story.  
> Let me know if you want this story to continue and maybe this won't stay a one-shot after all.  
> Thank you all so much!


End file.
